


hirudo medicinalis

by shadowcat500



Series: Plaguetober 2020 [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Fever, Gen, Illnesses, Plague Doctors, Plaguetober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26752831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowcat500/pseuds/shadowcat500
Summary: Everyone knows bloodletting is the best cure for a fever, be the sufferer peasant or noble.(also known as: Leech Time)
Series: Plaguetober 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948417
Kudos: 1





	hirudo medicinalis

**Author's Note:**

> 01/10 Leeches

“Miss Hardrada!”

The cry echoes through the room, bouncing through the curves of the ceiling and making Hardrada’s teeth ache with how hard she grinds them. “Yes, Lady Snowbluff?”

“What are you _doing_ over there? My son is deathly ill and yet here you are, messing around with your things!”

“Ma’am, I’m looking for a thermometer to judge your son’s temperature, if you’ll give me a moment.” Manners, Hardrada. You can’t afford to move again just because a noble felt like being particularly irritating. 

In a moment, she find the small glass tube and drifts back to the over-stuffed bed, far too large for the small boy moved close to the side to be reached more easily. She really hates this kind of noble: all the time in the world to overtax their townspeople but never enough to spend with their children. She’d bet her last penny the only time the boy sees his parents is at fancy dinners. 

“So, how is he? How warm is he?”

“Ma’am, I need to actually use this, if you’ll move so I can reach him.”

The Lady looks irritated at the idea of moving but does so anyway. Smart woman. Hardrada moves past her and places the thermometer in the young Lord’s mouth.  
Thirty-nine degrees. Bad. 

“So-”

Hardrada doesn’t deign to respond, sweeping past the noblewoman back to her bag and beginning to rifle through it again. 

“Miss Hardrada, what _are_ you looking for?”

“Leeches.”

She hears Lady Snowbluff’s affected gasp behind her and smirks as she finds the jar, half-full of water with around a dozen of the little black creatures wiggling around inside. 

“Miss Hardrada I simply _cannot_ allow you to-”

“Leeches are a common fever-reducer: drain the extra blood out and fix the patient in a jiffy. You can find another doctor, who may be far less accommodating to your desire to stay near your heir and get yourself infected too while still recommending the exact same treatment, or you can let me do so instead. Your choice, ma’am.”

A flurry of emotion crosses Lady Snowbluff’s face. Hardrada thinks she sees anger, confusion, frustration and acceptance cross her face in a matter of seconds before the Lady clenches her fists, tightens her jaw and looks away. “Do it.”

The doctor nods and moves towards the bed, jar of leeches in her arms. It’s not long before half-a-dozen of them are attached to the boy’s outstretched arm, bodies twitching and shifting and swelling as they feed. 

“Don’t worry miss, your boy will be right as rain in a matter of days after this as long as you make sure he drinks enough. Eight glasses of good water and he’ll be running around the halls like nothing ever happened.” 

Lady Snowbluff barely reacts, but Hardrada notices the small twitch of a nod. Maybe she cares more about her son than Hardrada thought she did. All the same, she’ll ask the housekeeper to make sure of the order.

**Author's Note:**

> My head hurts and I have no idea whether it's trying to tell me I'm tired, hungry, thirsty or a combination of the above
> 
> Check out my [ tumblr](https://existentialcrisisetcetera.tumblr.com/tagged/zach%20writes)!
> 
> Comments and kudos appreciated!


End file.
